TOPIC: Today failed my first exam attempt

Hi all

After a year of real hard work, reading rita book, PMBOK and of cource covering all PMP exam simulator. And reviewd all the wrong answers and expansion, today I failed my exam.
As per PMP Exam Simulator recommendation I scored range 85% at all 8 simulation test, but still I faild. Ready disappointed.

My score at the exam was just below the passing level. There wasn’t a single question similar to PMP exam simulator

Honestly i covered everything i was informed to. Now I don’t know what else I sould do? basically lost.

I am planning to book another exam and take another round in 4 days.

If you have any recommendations or advicey please share it with me.

Rawand

Hi Rawand,

Sorry to hear that you did not do so well on your first attempt

It looks like you had no problem with the simulation exams. What difference do you feel when you sat at the actual exam? What is causing you to perform differently (stress, not understanding the questions, etc?) than the mock tests?

Let's figure that out first before you schedule your second attempt.

Regards,
Joe

Thanks joe for your reply.

I bleive stress played a big role especially when you track the time passing by and you stay behind. I noticed that I was competing with time rather that focusing on the questions itself. Although iwas trying to skip the long and difficult questions to last, I could not leave it jntill i gine through each question one by one. Understanding questions is most important thing but due to stress this is a difficult task to do.

You wouldn’t know how hard I worked to pass this exam, day and nigh fot entire year. Appart from reading and understanding all the questions in PMP similator I have covered 4hours exam for all 1600 questions and my scores were above 85%.

You get to a stage were you don’t know what else to do.

Hi Rawand,

I totally understand how you felt during the exam. I too was a little panic when I read the first 50 or so questions.

Now that you have seen the actual exam, you know that the question style is a bit different than Prepcast, which is normal because it's a different team that writes the exam question. I would recommend doing a variety of different exam simulations (I did Rita v9, Lehmann, etc). That would acclimatize you for various types of question styles.

I agree skipping a question if you finding it difficult to understand, or you couldn't decide which is the right answer. I would also categorize these reasons, and mark them on your scrap paper. So that when you go back to these questions you'll know exactly where to resume.

When you feel you are ready, book the exam. Try not to study 24-48 hours before the exam date, do something you like (I went for a motorcycle ride and massage) instead. On the day of exam, exercise in the morning, get your oxygen level up; Also I usually have a chat with people in the exam waiting room, that helps me to relieve stress as well. During the exam, remember to breath, pace yourself, close your eyes for a few second if you are tired, take short breaks to rehydrate, etc.

Good Luck!

Hi Rawand,

I totally understand how you felt during the exam. I too was a little panic when I read the first 50 or so questions.

Now that you have seen the actual exam, you know that the question style is a bit different than Prepcast, which is normal because it's a different team that writes the exam question. I would recommend doing a variety of different exam simulations (I did Rita v9, Lehmann, etc). That would acclimatize you for various types of question styles.

I agree skipping a question if you finding it difficult to understand, or you couldn't decide which is the right answer. I would also categorize these reasons, and mark them on your scrap paper. So that when you go back to these questions you'll know exactly where to resume.

When you feel you are ready, book the exam. Try not to study 24-48 hours before the exam date, do something you like (I went for a motorcycle ride) instead. On the day of exam, exercise in the morning, get your oxygen level up; Also I usually have a chat with people in the exam waiting room, that helps me to relieve stress as well. During the exam, remember to breath, pace yourself, close your eyes for a few second if you are tired, take short breaks to rehydrate, etc.

Good Luck!

Hi Rawand,

I totally understand how you felt during the exam. I too was a little panic when I read the first 50 or so questions.

Now that you have seen the actual exam, you know that the question style is a bit different than Prepcast, which is normal because it's a different team that writes the exam question. I would recommend doing a variety of different exam simulations (I did Rita v9, Lehmann, etc). That would acclimatize you for various types of question styles.

I agree skipping a question if you finding it difficult to understand, or you couldn't decide which is the right answer. I would also categorize these reasons, and mark them on your scrap paper. So that when you go back to these questions you'll know exactly where to resume.

When you feel you are ready, book the exam. Try not to study 24-48 hours before the exam date, do something you like (I went for a motorcycle ride and massage) instead. On the day of exam, exercise in the morning, get your oxygen level up; Also I usually have a chat with people in the exam waiting room, that helps me to relieve stress as well. During the exam, remember to breath, pace yourself, close your eyes for a few second if you are tired, take short breaks to rehydrate, etc.

Good Luck!

Thanks joe for your support. At leaset it ease the pain.

Basically from waht you are sayining ,one exam simulator is not sufficient to pass the exam i have to try different types.

Some people have covered. 7000 question to pass the exam. My concern this may take me upto 3 more monthes to cover all that. Although it id irrelevant to ask how many more I skould do, but still i would like to hear from you how many more question I shoulg cover to give a confdence to pass the exam and and from which source, considering my exam score below. Also do you suggest that i should try other simulator or just go fo Rita v9, lehmann, etc).

Followings were my exam score

Initiating : Above Target
Planning: below target
Executing: need improvement
Monitoring and Controlling:: Below Target
Closing: above target


Thanks
Rawand

Hi Rawand,

Yes you are right, it's not about telling you the # of additional exam questions you need to do.

You will know when you are ready, and all you need to do is self evaluation.

1. Set a goal, and a metric that represents success. For me, I wanted to score at least 4ATs in three consecutive mock exams.
2. Do tons of mock
3. Don't let a set exam date to distract your study. Instead, when you are ready, then it is the time for you to book the exam.

Hey Anonymous, I failed my first as well. 12/21. If you were clock watching, did you notice the first half being less difficult and the second half being more difficult. I seemed to have trouble keeping pace in the second half. Then again, maybe fatigue set in. It seems like I had to read the question twice over much more later in the exam.